“Are all the Savage Legion prospects hitting on women at the crack of dawn or is this more of a you thing?” I asked, looking him up and down.
He flashed me a cocky smile and threw me another line straight out of the beginner’s book on how to pick up women.
“Well, the brothers always say to shoot your shot while you can still aim.”
I laughed at his absurd words. “I think they might be referring to target practice rather than picking up women.”
His eyes lit up, and he leaned over the bar to get a better look at me.
“You know, I think you might be right about that.”
“Glad we could clear that up,” I deadpanned back, before picking up a cloth to dry a nearby glass.
He reached out a hand. “I’m Rick, by the way. I’m still workin’ on a good club name, so if anything interesting comes to mind, give me a shout out.”
I shook his hand and told him, “My name’s Winter. Nice to meet you.”
His expression turned serious. “I heard what happened to you,” he said. “Just so you know, Viper got his club name from being a fuckin’ snake in the grass. If you see him comin’ the best thing to do is cross the street.”
“Yeah, I already learned that lesson the hard way.”
“So, do ya have a life plan yet?”
“I work here,” I said evenly. “The Dark Slayers have been good to me. I didn’t see it at first, but they’re looking out for me.”
“That wasn’t the question,” he said carefully.
I didn’t really know what Rick was driving at with all the questions. I probably should have shut him down hard right off the bat. It’s just that he was disarmingly friendly, and I dropped my guard there for a minute.
I reached for a bottle of water and set it in front of him. “Are you here to drink or play twenty questions with me?”
He snorted a laugh and took the bottle. “Fair enough, I guess. It’s just that you don’t look like you belong in a clubhouse,” he said.
“Do any of us ever really look like we belong where we are? The Slayers offered me a place here and I took it. In my mind, that means I belong here.”
His expression blanked out and he stammered, “That’s not what I meant.”
He reached out then, as if he was going to touch my arm.
“I didn’t mean…”
I took an instinctive step back, just as a shadow moved behind him.
“You need to keep your fuckin’ hands to yourself, Prospect. Especially without asking first.”
Fuse’s voice sounded like he was leashing his fury.
Rick faced Fuse. “I didn’t mean any disrespect,” he stammered. “Sorry, it won’t happen again.”
Fuse moved forward and elbowed the prospect out of the way. “Just so you know, Winter is under my protection.”
Rick nodded once. “She wasn’t wearing a property cut, so I didn’t know.”
“Now that you know, I don’t expect you to be chatting her up. Thanks for the reminder about the cut. I’ll be fuckin’ fixin’ that.”
Rick excused himself, moving down the bar and sitting with one of the Savage Legion club brothers.
My heart was still beating wildly. I covered it by continuing to shine the glass in my hand to within an inch of its life. Having a mini panic response to that prospect reaching for me was embarrassing.
